Contents

History

Induction of deep sleep for psychiatric purposes was
first tried by Scottish
psychiatrist Neil Macleod at the turn of the 20th century. He used
bromide sleep in a few
psychiatric patients, one of whom died. His method was adopted by
some other physicians but soon abandoned, perhaps because it was
considered too toxic or reckless. In 1915, Giuseppe Epifanio tried
barbiturate-induced coma therapy in a psychiatric clinic in Italy, but his reports made little
impact.

Deep Sleep Therapy was popularized in the 1920s by Swiss
psychiatrist Jakob Klaesi, using a combination of two new barbiturates from pharmaceutical companyRoche. Klaesi's method became widely known and
occasionally used procedure for psychotic illness in the 1930s and
1940s.

Sargent wrote in his standard textbook An Introduction to
Physical Methods of Treatment in Psychiatry: 'Many patients
unable to tolerate a long course of ECT, can do so when anxiety is
relieved by narcosis ... What is so valuable is that they generally
have no memory about the actual length of the treatment or the
numbers of ECT used ... After 3 or 4 treatments they may ask for
ECT to be discontinued because of an increasing dread of further
treatments. Combining sleep with ECT avoids this ...'. In addition
he states: 'All sorts of treatment can be given while the patient
is kept sleeping, including a variety of drugs and ECT [which]
together generally induce considerable memory loss for the period
under narcosis. As a rule the patient does not know how long he has
been asleep, or what treatment, even including ECT, he has been
given. Under sleep ... one can now give many kinds of physical
treatment, necessary, but often not easily tolerated. We may be
seeing here a new exciting beginning in psychiatry and the
possibility of a treatment era such as followed the introduction of
anaesthesia in surgery'.[1]

As practised by Bailey, Deep Sleep Therapy involved long periods
of barbiturate-induced coma, during which it was anticipated that the
patients' minds would be able to overcome mental afflictions. DST
was prescribed for various conditions ranging from schizophrenia and
depression to obesity, PMS
and addiction.

Twenty-six patients died at Chelmsford Private Hospital during
the 1960s and 1970s, with only perfunctory investigation by
authorities. A series of articles in the early 1980s in the Sydney Morning Herald exposed the
horrors that occurred at Chelmsford, which, together with Sydney
psychiatrist Brian Boettcher, calling a meeting of doctors working
there, caused the hospital to close. Legal action on behalf of
former patients was[2][3][4]
and is still being pursued in New South Wales. In the report of the
Royal Commission into Deep Sleep, it was determined that the deaths
had been disclosed after the doctors' meeting called by Boettcher;
and the commission recommended that Boettcher be commended for his
actions. Subsequently the Australian Medical Association gave him
an award for outstanding services to psychiatry.

The most famous patient was Stevie Wright, the
former lead singer of the 60's pop band The Easybeats; another was musician Bobby Limb. Limb was one
of the ex-patients of Chelmsford who took part in the 1992
documentary about the Deep Sleep scandal, Deep Sleep, made
for Channel Four in the UK's Secret History series by filmmaker John
Edginton. The film was also shown on ABC Television in Australia and A&E in
America.

In 1989 the former Chelmsford Private Hospital building was
refurbished and reopened under new management as a nursing home.

References

The New South Wales Royal Commission into Chelmsford
Private Hospital: Available in reference form at the N.S.W.
State Library.